Descendants of Jonathan LEE

ANCESTORS OF JONATHAN LEE

Jonathan Lee (the first one we know about) married Elizabeth Smithys in 1733 at Snaith, Yorkshire. Jonathan's date of birth is not known, but Elizabeth was born in 1710. Jonathan died in 1776. Jonathan and Elizabeth had 8 children, all baptized at Balne, Yorkshire: Ann (1734), Jane (1736, d. 1746), Elizabeth (173?), Mary (1740, d. 1741), William (1743), Jonathan (1745), Mary (1747), Sarah (1749, d. 1767).
William Lee, son of Jonathan, was baptized September 26, 1743 at Balne. He and his wife, whose name is not known, had 7 children, all baptized at Snaith: William, Thomas, Elizabeth, Sarah (died), Jonathan, Sarah, Mary. William was buried February 6, 1824 at Snaith at the age of 81.
Thomas Lee, son of William, was baptized 25 June 1770 at Snaith. He married Ann Cooke 4 March 1794 at Snaith.


JONATHAN LEE, OUR IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR

Jonathan Lee, son of Thomas and Ann, was born in Rawcliffe by Goole in Yorkshire, England and was christened on the 8th of June in 1817. Jonathan was the 11th of 12 children born to Thomas and Ann. All the baptisms, marriages and burials were registered at the Church of England, as follows:

1. Jane, baptized April 12, 1795 at Snaith
2. Sarah, baptized June 4, 1797 at Snaith
3. Nanny, baptized September 8, 1799 at Snaith
4. William, baptized December 27, 1801 at Snaith, (died November 1869, occupation farmer)
5. Thomas, baptized December 15, 1804 at Snaith
6. Mary, baptized June 2, 1805 at Snaith
7. Thomas, baptized October 18, 1807 at Snaith, married Mary Cawood (1802-1865) May 12, 1829 at Snaith, occupations: farmer, butcher, publican.
8. Elizabeth, baptized February 25, 1810 at Rawcliffe
9. George, baptized March 15, 1812 at Rawcliffe
10. Ann, baptized August 6, 1815 at Rawcliffe
11. Jonathan, baptized June 8, 1817 at Rawcliffe, occupation labourer
12. Robert, baptized June 3, 1819 at Rawcliffe, married Jane Doaks
Thomas Lee, the father of this family, died in 1845 and was buried February 4, 1845 at Rawcliffe, at the age of 74. Anne (Cooke) Lee was buried December 2, 1858 at Rawcliffe, at the age of 86.
Rawcliffe is a small village in the parish of Snaith in the West Riding of Yorkshire, situated on the river Aire and on the road from Snaith to Goole. Goole is one of Britain's furthest inland seaports, located where the Don River meets the Ouse.
Jonathan Lee and Sarah Holgate were both 19 when they were married in 1836. I believe Sarah was the daughter of Samuel Holgate and Mary Bisken Wells, born in Haxey, Lincolnshire. Her parents were married in 1805 in Hatfield, Yorkshire. The three villages are situated in a triangle, with not more than 10 miles between any of them.
Jonathan and Sarah had three children -- Ann, Thomas and Mary -- before they left for Canada in 1843. It appears that Ann, born in 1841, died before or during the voyage. Jonathan Lee Jr. was born at sea. Jonathan's brother Robert and his wife Jane with their children likely accompanied Jonathan and Sarah to Canada, as they appear in the census of Wellesley Township at the same time (1851).
The Jonathan Lee family settled first in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario, where four more children were born: Robert, Sarah, a second Ann, and William. In the spring of 1854 the family moved to Minto Township, Wellington County, and bought 400 acres on Lots 39 and 40, Concession 2, and Lots 38 and 39, Concession 3. They were among the first settlers in the district, near the town of Palmerston.
The youngest child, Jane, was born in 1853, making a total of 9 children. Only two years later, at the age of 36, Sarah died and was the first adult buried in Salem cemetery. Jonathan had donated the land and Sarah had helped to choose the location.
In 1857 Jonathan married Elizabeth Noble, the daughter of Joseph and Priscilla (Kitchen) Noble, who had also settled in that area. The Nobles came from Lincolnshire. Elizabeth was about the same age as Jonathan's oldest son Thomas.
For 25 years Jonathan Lee lived in Minto Township, raising his first family of 8 surviving children and starting another family of 11 children. He must have had boundless energy! He was not only an enterprising farmer, bringing in the first team of horses and the first open-cylinder threshing separator, but also had a good reputation as a mechanic and a carpenter.
When Jonathan Lee Sr. and Elizabeth went west in 1879, of his first family Thomas, married to Ann Aldrich, stayed behind until about 1900 when the family moved to the Treherne area; Mary (Mrs. William) Bride, Jonathan Jr. and Jane (Mrs. William) Gilbert remained in Minto. Saran Ann (Mrs. Robert Lovell) went to Portage la Prairie. Ann Lee married Solomon Angst in 1868. Four of her children migrated to Cypress River, Manitoba. Robert Lee was married twice and died alone in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. I have not been able to trace William. He may have died as a young man, because a child in the second family was named William Edward.
All of Jonathan and Elizabeth's 11 children accompanied their parents when they moved to Manitoba in 1879, the youngest being about one year old. They travelled by train from Palmerston to Toronto, then through the United States, arriving in Winnipeg on the train which had just been completed from St. Paul, Minnesota. The family walked from Winnipeg to Portage la Prairie, a distance of about 50 miles, with all their possessions loaded on a wagon.
In 1832 the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built a fort on the north bank of the Assiniboine River approximately 3 miles southwest of the present city of Portage la Prairie. This fort was across the river from the first fort, built in 1796. When the Lee family arrived, the HBC had built a trading post in town and the "Old Fort (La Reine)" was being used by new settlers as a stopping-off place. The HBC records in Winnipeg show the sale of Lot 23, Parish of Portage la Prairie, on December 19, 1879 to Elizabeth Lee for $7 an acre (226 acres), to be paid in 8 annual instalments. In 1886 they bought the remaining 3 1/2 acres. The Trans-Canada highway now crosses this land and a plaque has been erected near the river to commemorate the site of Fort la Reine.
Jonathan was 62 when he moved to Portage and 86 when he died in 1903. Thirteen of his 20 children survived him. Elizabeth predeceased him in 1891. They are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Portage, beside the Trans-Canada Highway.
Of their 11 children: Rebecca Harriet "Hattie" died suddenly in 1893 at the age of 20; William Edward died on February 2, 1886, when he was 11; Joseph moved to Swan Lake, married Esther Ann Kinsley; George married Jane Cumming and stayed in Portage; Evangeline ("Eva") married William Paterson and remained in Portage; John married Catherine Cumming (sister of Jane) and lived in Cypress River, going into the grocery and undertaking business; Keziah ("Kizzy") married Robert Treffry and remained in Portage; Ben and his wife Fannie Somerton lived at Burnside; David and his wife "Dussy" Yeomans moved to Napinka from Burnside in 1903; Richard and Arthur moved to Watrous, Saskatchewan.
Jonathan Lee was married a third time, at the age of 76, to Susan Waters, widow of Jonathan Waters. Susan (or Susannah) was the daughter of Isaac Thompson and Rebecca White. Jenny, one of Susan's two daughters, married her step-brother Arthur Lee. After Arthur died, she married his older brother, Richard, whose first wife (Clara Lloyd) had died.